Many portable devices in several different industries require the use of direct current (DC) batteries. There is no single, or unified standard for the shape, size, or design of the DC battery pin connector type terminals or DC battery terminal housings that allow the DC batteries to mate with the portable devices they power. As a consequence, DC battery terminal housings have many different designs and/or configurations, and those who wish to mate a given DC battery with a device must design the mating housing for that device to mate with that specific DC battery's terminal housing. Similarly, a power-reading device that assesses the remaining power in a DC battery must also be capable of reading the remaining voltage of the battery, regardless of the terminals or terminal housings used by that battery.
Additionally, portable devices often require DC battery replacements due to rapid depletion of the DC battery. With some portable devices, such as robotics devices, aeronautics devices, avionics devices, cellular telephone devices, and radio communication devices, it is often important to determine whether the DC battery within the device will hold charge for the duration of time the user will spend away from a charging station or a source of replacement batteries. In those cases, it is important to have an efficient way to assess the remaining power in a DC battery having a terminal housing of any shape, size, or design.
Often times, users of portable devices need to assess the remaining power for a given DC battery, or for a potential replacement battery quickly and efficiently. For example, in a robotics competition, competitors often have a matter of moments between competitive rounds, requiring the DC battery to be replaced. As another example, maintenance crews in the aeronautics industry have a short amount of time to perform all necessary maintenance on aircraft in between flights, leaving a minimal amount of time to ensure all required DC batteries have been adequately charged, or replaced with adequately charged DC batteries. Thus, there is a need in the art to ensure an accurate, rapid power measurement of DC batteries having any type of terminal housing configuration or design. Embodiments of the voltmeter device housing for mating with a direct current battery terminal housing with at least two pin connector type terminals, and the computer-aided manufacturing process for fabricating such an apparatus described herein solve this problem.
The use of the same reference symbols in different drawings indicates similar or identical items.